About the Council

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based at Institute of Technology in CTBUH Journal Chicago and with a offi ce at Tongji International Journal on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat University in , is an international not-for-profi t organization supported by architecture, engineering, planning, development, and construction professionals. Founded in 1969, the Council’s mission is to disseminate multi- Tall buildings: design, construction, and operation | 2014 Issue IV disciplinary information on tall buildings and sustainable urban environments, to maximize the international interaction of professionals involved Case Study: One , Sydney in creating the built environment, and to make the latest knowledge available to professionals in High-Rise Housing: The Singapore Experience a useful form. The Emergence of Asian Supertalls The CTBUH disseminates its fi ndings, and facilitates business exchange, through: the Achieving Six Stars in Sydney publication of books, monographs, proceedings, and reports; the organization of world congresses, Ethical Implications of international, regional, and specialty conferences The Race and workshops; the maintaining of an extensive website and tall building databases of built, under Tall Buildings in Numbers: construction, and proposed buildings; the Unfi nished Projects distribution of a monthly international tall building e-newsletter; the maintaining of an Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel international resource center; the bestowing of annual awards for design and construction excellence and individual lifetime achievement; the management of special task forces/working groups; the hosting of technical forums; and the publication of the CTBUH Journal, a professional journal containing refereed papers written by researchers, scholars, and practicing professionals.

The Council is the arbiter of the criteria upon which tall building height is measured, and thus the title of “’s Tallest Building” determined. CTBUH is the world’s leading body dedicated to the fi eld of tall buildings and urban habitat and the recognized international source for information in these fi elds.

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

S.R. Crown Hall Illinois Institute of Technology 3360 South State Street Chicago, IL 60616 Phone: +1 (312) 567 3487 Fax: +1 (312) 567 3820 Email: [email protected] http://www.ctbuh.org

ISSN: 1946 - 1186 Inside

News and Events Features 40 Social Issues Designing High-Rise Housing: condominium ownership through their own The Singapore Experience means. The range of available housing types is There is a land shortage in Singapore, compelling the search for different improving for HDB owners and renters. For 02 This Issue 46 Tall Buildings in Numbers models of high-rise housing. Singapore’s experience breaks with the dual example, Executive Condominiums have stereotypes that high-rise construction is expensive, and that an apartment in been introduced in order to accommodate a skyscraper is a privilege of the rich. Reflecting the strategy of providing the the needs of young professionals who can afford more than a HDB flat, but for whom average consumer with affordable and comfortable housing, there is a rapid private commercial housing remains out of Daniel Safarik, Dream Deferred: Unfinished growth of design and construction of high-rise residential complexes in reach. Such flats are comparable to market- Elena Generalova Viktor Generalov Singapore. This process is based on the principles of sustainable urban rate condominiums in terms of design and development, minimizing environmental impact, and maximizing energy amenities. Figure 1. Map of HDB residential areas in Singapore. Authors efficiency. A clear standard of comfort for public housing has been developed, Elena Generalova, Associated Professor The Design, Build, and Sell Scheme (DBSS) was Viktor Generalov, Professor including a set of required improvements of the site, in the structure of Editor Tall Buildings Department of Architecture of Housing and Public launched in 2005, involving private develop- Buildings residential towers and in apartment layout. ers in a substantial way. Under DBSS, Samara State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering developers are responsible for the entire Kievskaya Street, 15, App. 55 According to many researchers, the most become the owner of an HDB apartment, the design and construction process (including Samara 443013, Russia t: +7 927 695 0233; +7 905 0189298 dynamic and vibrant housing markets are applicant must meet certain requirements purchase of land, design development, e: [email protected]; [email protected] those where public and private sectors coexist concerning nationality, age, and marital status. construction, and sales). Apartments built harmoniously. Singapore has managed to Also, there are limits on the average gross under this scheme are intended for public Elena Generalova develop conditions that support a high monthly household income that can be housing. They are developed by private Elena Generalova, PhD, is a member of the Union of Architects of Russia and an associate professor in the standard of living by way of a set of required earned by residents of a given type of companies, which are free to design and Figure 2. People’s Park Complex, Singapore Figure 3. Golden Mile Complex, Singapore department of Architecture of Housing and Public elements and system quality criteria for apartment. implement their projects as they see fit, so Buildings at Samara State University of Architecture 04 CTBUH Latest 48 Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel and Civil Engineering. Her scientific interests focus on different consumer strata embedded in long as they do not jeopardize the objectives, Each HDB town is designed to be self-sustain- requirements of a barrier-free environment. researching modern high-rise residential complexes. high-rise residential complexes, innovative principles, and basic features of public ing. There is no need to venture out of town Generalova supervises post-graduate research students in Architecture. She is the author of more technologies and “green standards,” based on Development of Multiple Financing housing. This means that, while providing to meet the most common needs of In the initial years following the establishment than 50 scientific works, including monographs and the principles of energy efficiency and And Occupancy Models sufficient flexibility in design, finishes, and residents. Employment can be found in and development of the concept of HDB educational editions. She is also a practicing architect with more than 60 completed projects. environmental friendliness which have sizes, tight control is nevertheless exerted over industrial estates located within several towns, housing, in addition to housing groups and Antony Wood, From Block to Blob and Back become available for mass consumers. Public housing in Singapore was originally the developments’ integration into the urban and each has education and health care estates development, the idea of building Viktor Generalov intended to be for-rent only, but the policy environment, so as to support favorable social facilities, sports complexes, recreation zones, multifamily residential complexes in the Viktor Generalov, PhD, is a professor at, and head of the Department of Architecture of, Housing It should be noted that Singapore has was quickly adjusted to extend applicants the and aesthetic interaction with the surround- multistory car parks, and other common high-density areas of Singapore was also and Public Buildings at Samara State University of reached such a high standard of living in a opportunity to buy apartments. The govern- ing existing HDB buildings. To date, 13 DBSS facilities. All HDB residential areas are encouraged. Some examples of the resulting Architecture and Civil Engineering, a member of the Union of Architects of Russia, and advisor to the very short period of time, based on its unique ment attached great importance to allowing projects have been constructed in different connected to a well-developed public experiments with integrating various Executive Director Again Russian Academy of Architectural Sciences (RAASN). climatic, political, regulatory, and economic the popular majority to become owners. parts of Singapore on 10 sites. Notable transport infrastructure, including under- functions in “megastructures,” include: People’s His scientific interests focus on the modern problems of specific types of high-rises. Within this framework, conditions. The history of public housing in Those lacking sufficient income to purchase projects include View @ Boon Keng, Park ground, buses, and Light Rail Transit (LRT). Park Complex, (1973, 31 floors, 103 meters) he supervises post-graduate research students in Singapore began in 1960, when the Housing homes, but who were eligible for HDB Central @ Ang Mo Kio, Natura Loft @ Bishan, (see Figure 2) and the Golden Mile Complex, architecture. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, including monographs and and Development Board (HDB) was formed, housing, could receive preferential mortgag- and The Peak @ Toa Payoh. Every residential complex has well-equipped (1974, 16 floors, 89 meters) (see Figure 3). educational editions. He is also a practicing architect the main purpose of which was to provide es, housing subsidies, and savings from the outdoor sports fields, embodying the state’s These were designed by Gan Eng Oon, and has more than 80 completed projects in Russia and Kazakhstan. affordable housing in a high-quality Central Provident Fund (CPF). The CPF is a commitment to the good health of its citizens. William Lim, and Tay Kheng Soon, who environment for the masses. In order to state fund in Singapore to which every HDB Town Features Children’s playgrounds are an integral part of subsequently founded DP Architects. These working citizen and their employer pays the living environment and employ a great were among the first high-rise facilities in monthly. The public pension, medical services, When the HDB took over in 1960, the agency variety of designs, advanced materials, Singapore, built as part of a reconstruction 05 Debating Tall: 51 Ask a CTBUH Expert: and home loans are fully financed by these adopted the “new town” planning concept on variations in age-appropriate equipment, as program that cleared dilapidated buildings contributions. In general, the system works a large scale, building entire towns from well as areas equipped for parents. The and installed new public housing. Both More than 80% of Singaporeans live in quite efficiently, as more than 80% of scratch in locations all around Singapore. covered walkway is the calling card of complexes are multi-use buildings with “public housing, and 95 % of public-housing Singaporeans live in public housing, and 95% There are now officially 24 “HDB Towns”, Singapore’s living environment, a piece of apartments, catering establishments, trade of public-housing residents are owners. As a compact and contiguous areas with a infrastructure necessitated by the pressing enterprises, social amenities, offices, parking Special Requirements for Victor Madeira Filho residents are owners. The wealthy have also result of the housing program, the country deliberate mix of residential, commercial, and need to protect citizens from the scorching lots, and other facilities. has provided every citizen with comfortable institutional uses (see Figure 1). sun, which can instantly turn into torrential overwhelmingly chosen high-rise condominium housing in a very short time. The wealthy have rain. All residential areas have such walkways, In recent years, several high-rise complexes High-Rise Luxury Apartment Tall Buildings’ Impact on ownership through their own means. also overwhelmingly chosen high-rise which are ramped to account for the have enhanced the status of public housing, 40 | Architecture/Design ” CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Architecture/Design | 41 Owners? “Rights to Light”

06 Global News Highlights from the CTBUH 48 Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel From Block to Blob and Back Again very much closed on the side where the sun moves around the building. So the building news archive United Network Studio (UN Studio) is a Dutch architecture firm founded in doesn’t get oversaturated with heat, but you 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, which in the established also have thermal heat retained into the offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, partly to accommodate the firm’s increas- evening. Another thing that’s nice about the CTBUH ing number of highly detailed and demanding tall-building projects on the double-height balconies is that they collect Asian continent. One of these projects, the Ardmore Residence in Singapore wind into the evening. After 5:00 p.m., that really helps to cool down the building. (see Figure 1), was a finalist in this year’s CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards Ben van Berkel program. Van Berkel paused to chat with CTBUH Editor Daniel Safarik on a It was a wonderful project to work on and we Figure 2. Canaletto Apartments, – neighborhood in the sky concept. © UN Studio recent whirlwind visit to the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. only had 1.5 years to build it. The client took a Interviewee lot of time to develop the project, around three Ben van Berkel, Principal UNStudio We’ve seen a lot of creative projects in have completely accepted them. Then years, but we had very little time to build it. complemented by increased services and young entrepreneurs to be able to buy these Stadhouderskade 113 Singapore in the last couple of years, and again, you don’t often hear “double-height amenities. On the other hand, in Singapore, units, and the price structure of units in this 1073 AX Amsterdam, The Netherlands Special Report: Shanghai 2014 building helps with that. There are affordable 52 I’m wondering what kind of client windows,” and “” in the same So once you began construction there was they are better controlled. There are people t: +31 20 570 2040 f: +31 20 570 2041 commissioned the Ardmore and what sentence. So you must have resolved that no going back? that take care of the public spaces, and units and also very expensive units, and they e: [email protected] www.unstudio.com made them interested in having such an with some pretty interesting engineering. Correct. For that reason I could show you in tenants pay fees to ensure proper all share these types of amenities like intricate design? How were they convinced Yes, but with the incredible knowledge of this detailed drawings that there are 16 modular maintenance. A sense of community is also restaurants, a cinema for families, a gym, a Ben van Berkel on the morphology of that building? client, I’ve noticed that collaboration is key. We elements for the entire façade structure that generated when long-term tenants agree on pool, and a club. So we took a contemporary Conference Ben van Berkel is the Co-founder and Principal Architect of UNStudio in Amsterdam and Shanghai. The beauty of that client is their architectural also do everything digitally now – and we test could be pulled and twisted in many different new ways to maintain their building. So it’s approach when looking at how we could fill UNStudio is a network of specialists in architecture, background; they have worked with many these things out very early in the design ways. They were repeatedly used in different quite well organized. in the commercial component. urban development, and infrastructure. Current projects include restructuring the station area of interesting architects like Philip Johnson and process. I do it more and more, where I come areas of the building. In this way, we developed Arnhem, the Raffles City mixed-use development Paul Rudolph. Also, four of the brothers of this up with a proposal in the preliminary and a highly efficient strategy for making quite a It sounds a little bit like the co-op What I’ve learned over the years, even when in Hangzhou, over 30 stations for the Doha Metro client live in a Paul Rudolph residential schematic design phases, and we test the complex building. model. we do a department store, we say to the Case Study Network in Qatar and the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa. Currently he is building called the Concourse, so they have slenderness of the building or the column- The advantage that many clients like when client, “Why don’t you think of a department Professor of Conceptual Design at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main, and was recently awarded the developed an incredible interest in free living areas, and see what we can do for The appearance of the building suggests they buy a high-rise unit is that they have, as a store that looks like a museum?”, because Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor’s Chair at Harvard architecture. Also, I like Singapore. When I was the sustainable components of the building. that it is hewn out of a solid piece of rock, community, a say into how they would like to objects in a museum are also fetish objects. University Graduate School of Design. Central to his teaching is the inclusive approach of architectural there I was fascinated with the city, its culture, For instance, this building is totally open on but it seems that nothing could be further maintain the building. This concept can be When Andy Warhol talked about his works integrating virtual and material organization and its regulations. They are quite tough in the side where you have little sunlight, and it’s from the truth. Did you use modifiable very beneficial for some projects. fascination with shopping, he talked about 59 CTBUH on the Road and engineering constructions. terms of their organizational needs; for formwork, or did you pre-cast the concrete instance, landscaping needs to come into the and raise it up? It is one that I am trying to instill in another first floor of the building. These requirements We precasted it, but it was interesting, because project we are working on in London, called 12 One Central Park, Sydney are tough, and can make it very challenging the Japanese contractor that was used had Canaletto (see Figures 2 and 3). It’s another CTBUH events around the world to design such an articulated building, but are techniques to move up the casting while they high-rise we are doing in the area of Islington, I’ve never been so ultimately beneficial. were moving up the building, and they did a which we characterized as a “neighborhood in lot of casting on the spot. They said that it was the sky.” While developing the project, we “worried about Clearly, a client that had an appreciation of the quickest way for them to operate. So they thought a lot about context, where, in this Jean Nouvel & Bertram Beissel Paul Rudolph would also have an apprecia- moved upward every day, and the crane would case, there are a lot of startup companies. The individual buildings, tion of sculptured concrete, curvilinear lift the next piece into place while workers whole area has been an inspiration, as has the organic shapes, and rough materials. completed the previous section. client. They want to include all kinds of crazy but rather the Exactly, and then of course we came up with amenities, like a restaurant on the ground the organization of the building based on the You mentioned that you like Singapore and floor where people can meet and interact collective skyline. [In optimum views we could get within the units. the constraints that it presented. It seems with their neighbors. 59 Diary a good skyline] you So the living room area is a column-free like a very civilized place. I have seen a space, with an incredibly nice span of more statistic that 80% of people in Singapore live How is it different facilitating a community don’t mind that some than 12 meters. Each apartment also has in high-rise public housing, and probably environment in London rather than double-height windows with a longitudinally close to another 10% live in market-rate Singapore? buildings are quite interlocking double-height balcony set into high-rise housing. Why do you think they The thing that’s so nice about the market in Upcoming tall building events the concrete structure. This worked really well. have taken so well to high-rise living in London is that it is younger, if more close to each other, Singapore? commercial. So when I proposed to them the There is still a stigma about tall concrete You know, it’s the opposite of high-rise living in idea of a neighborhood in the sky, I presented because they have an buildings in North America, and to some Europe, where it used to be more common. it as a type of social enterprise that informs identity as a group. degree in Europe, whereas people in Asia Figure 1. Ardmore Residence, Singapore. Today, to lure tenants, high-rises are how the building could be used. We want the ” © UN Studio / Iwan Baan Figure 3. Canaletto Apartments, London. © UN Studio Research 60 Reviews 48 | Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel | 49 Review of new books in the 20 The Competition for the CTBUH Library Tallest Skyscraper: Special Report: Shanghai 2014 Conference Implications for Global 52 61 Comments 2014 CTBUH Shanghai Conference Tsang gave a short overview of the architectural features that resulted from this Outperforms All Predecessors brief, including ’s widened base, to increase structural stability; a tapered profile, to Ethics and Economics reduce seismic and wind forces acting on the Feedback structure; shaped corners, to improve aerodynamic performance, and a megastructural system as a means of achieving economic structural resiliency that would be Christopher Michaelson economically effective. VIP photo session. Back Row: Zhenyu Li, ; Zhaohui Jia, Greenland Group; Kazunari Kano, Mori Building; Wing Ip (David) Ho, New World Development; Yoshinori Kotera, Sinar Mas Group – APP; Peter Kok, Shum Yip Land. Middle Row: James Robinson, Hongkong Land; Antony Wood, CTBUH / IIT / Tongji University; Timothy Johnson, NBBJ; In a seeming friendly rejoinder to his colleague David Malott, KPF Associates; Mounib Hammoud, Jeddah Economic Council; Robert Pratt, Tishman Speyer Properties. from , Dong Shen of Zhongnan Front Row: Cathy Yang, Financial Center Corp.; Shiling Zheng, Tongji University; Thomas Tsang, Shenzhen Ping An Finance Center Construction & Development; Jianping Gu, Construction and Development; Dong Group, which is building the 729-meter Shen, Zhongnan Group; Yang Wu, Finance Center; Nengjun Luo, CITIC HEYE Investment Co., Ltd. 62 Meet the CTBUH Zhongnan Center, began his presentation with some facts that helped explain how Suzhou, a opening plenary session. The possibility of a horizontal spaces at height is because it city only 100 kilometers from Shanghai, could future of tall buildings that support urban life, changes the psychology of building occupants. support a building of this scale. rather than stand apart from it as 28 The Emergence of Asian interchangeable icons, seemed especially clear “The idea is to inject more urban life into the Vincent Tse “Suzhou’s GDP has actually outperformed by the session’s close. high-rise city,” Wong said. “We introduce The 2014 CTBUH Conference was held at the Though admitting that the drum This line of thought informed the very careful Shenzhen economically, and it is a major horizontal movement in the high-rise building Grand Hyatt Jin Mao in Shanghai, China, from performance was a hard act to follow, session selection of the building’s height of 632 meters manufacturing center in addition to being a Mun Summ Wong, Principal of Singapore- because it changes the dynamic. When you talk September 16–19, drawing more than 1,000 chair and CTBUH Executive Director Antony – it is 140 meters higher than the neighboring historical capital,” Shen said. based WOHA, demonstrated his firm’s efforts to to the people next to you in an ordinary Supertalls delegates from around the world to attend Wood nevertheless cast the opening plenary Shanghai World Financial Center, which itself is upend assumptions about the social high-rise, it is considered rude. But in the street, three full days of sessions, with high session in an appropriately significant light. 70 meters higher than the . Thus The Zhongnan Group envisions the Zhongnan sustainability of high-rises. One of the main you talk to people, build relationships and participation from tall-building developers. Referring to the three keynote speakers, he the three towers now compose a tightly Center as only one of a “cluster of modern reasons so many of WOHA’s projects emphasize bonds.” The three plenaries, three session tracks and said: “I don’t think there has ever been a time calibrated tripartite formation, defining the architecture along the axis of the No. 1 Subway three panel discussions were augmented by in which the developers of three megatall new central business district. line” that connects the critical districts of the Jonathan Hsu & Cynthia Chan eight technical workshops, and three buildings in the same country have spoken city. Some of the defining characteristics of the Session Snapshot 62 CTBUH Organizational additional tracks devoted to each of the next together on the same stage before.” Perhaps no other city embodies the rapidity of Zhongnan tower include public displays of its three tallest buildings in China. This made for Chinese urbanization like Shenzhen, which has engineering brawn. The in Tall Buildings as International Investments an intense flurry of activity, the true scope of Jianping Gu took the stage first, characterizing grown from a sleepy fishing village to a city of the crown will showcase the building’s hybrid Robert Pratt, Tishman Speyer Properties (Chair); Mounib Hammoud, Jeddah Economic Co.; which was easier to understand via the the twisting, sinuous form of the Shanghai 14 million in little more than 30 years. It is here sloshing/mass-damper in a highly prominent Timothy Johnson, CTBUH/NBBJ; and James Robinson, Hongkong Land physical items attendees received on-site. Tote Tower as a “back to nature” project. Although that the 660-meter Ping An Finance Center is way, with the ball-shaped device clutched The investment landscape for tall buildings many height and plot-density restrictions, view Member Listing bags were filled to capacity with four the building is the height of sophistication in being built, on a construction site that, on the above the deck in a massive housing, like a varies considerably around the world, as was corridors, and political issues to negotiate when hardbound volumes – the main conference terms of double-skin façade, , and occasion of Wood’s last visit, was “so clean, it felt pearl in the jaws of a great diving bird leaping indicated by the diversity of perspectives in this a tall-building development is on the table. With proceedings containing 116 papers, and three outrigger technology, among many other as if you could eat your lunch off of any from the lake. panel. Mounib Hammoud shed new light on the current rising demand for more office and hotel In Detail books devoted to three major towers feats, at its core it is an attempt to create a horizontal surface,” he said. Kingdom Tower project, which he said would space, Hong Kong needs to reconcile with its 34 Achieving a Six-Star-Rated rising in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Shenzhen – in new template for community spaces, by More detailed information about each of the anchor a residential development that will help mixed feelings about supertalls, said James addition to electronic copies of each session’s making the project’s atria stand in as proxies As demonstrated by the next speaker, Thomas three megatalls whose VIP representatives alleviate Saudi Arabia’s 1.6 million-unit Robinson, Executive Director of Hongkong Land. Power Point presentation. It is safe to say no for the small neighborhood meeting places Tsang, the Ping An project is a tour de force of spoke at the plenary was available in two-day housing shortage. one left Shanghai empty-handed or short on that have been lost with much new complexity, driven by seismic and wind long sessions in project rooms devoted to each ideas. development. Gu referred to the considerations, as well as the massive building – a CTBUH Conference first. Timothy Johnson described the efforts of his Tall Building in Sydney’s “stereoscopic” three-dimensional design of investment and attendant expectations of a client as a design partner at NBBJ, Eton To summarize some of the highlights: the project as being supportive of supporting single occupier. Properties, and its project in the northern Chinese city of Dalian. Here, strategic phasing human connectivity. Dasy 3 Plenary: Towards Sustainable Vertical of residential, retail, and office towers may set a Opening Plenary: The Future Three Tallest “From the start, the owners were determined to Urbanism new model in the developing world, where the Buildings in China “There were already two towers in the vicinity have a high-performance, sustainable building Mun Summ Wong, WOHA; Yang Wu, Bund Finance government is typically heavily involved and Central Business District Jianping Gu, Shanghai Tower Construction & when we started,” Gu said. “We had to pay that epitomized their corporate values,” Tsang Center & Antony Wood, CTBUH / IIT/ Tongji University large developments are done all at once. Development Co., Ltd.; Wai Ming (Thomas) Tsang, particular attention to harmonizing with said. “The focus centered around three main Shenzhen Ping An Finance Center Construction & those buildings. We consider this an issue of areas: an effective vertical transportation The overall theme of the conference, Towards Although one thinks of Hong Kong as the Development Co., Ltd. & Dong Shen, Zhongnan sustainability.” system, an energy-efficient façade and high Sustainable Vertical Urbanism, was driven home quintessential tall building city, in fact it has Mounib Hammoud, new CTBUH Trustee and CEO of Lester Partridge Group indoor air quality.” with particular emphasis during the third day’s Jeddah Economic Co.

52 | Special Report: Shanghai 2014 Conference CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Special Report: Shanghai 2014 Conference | 53 40 Designing High-Rise Housing: The Singapore Experience Elena Generalova & Viktor Generalov In this global society in which citizenship might transcend“ traditional political borders, skyscraper symbolism is distinctly provincial, a source of jurisdictional pride and power.

” Christopher Michaelson, page 20

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Inside | 3 Visit the daily-updated online resource for all the latest news on tall buildings, urban development, Global News and sustainable construction from around the world at: http://news.ctbuh.org

Americas

From August to October 2014, the Americas continued to raise eyebrows in world, as multiple projects redefined skylines and kept heads gazing upwards.

After nearly 10 years of planning, is finally ready to begin construction in , as the necessary air rights have been granted for its parcel, which sits directly adjacent to The in Midtown on West . This highly-anticipated project, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, features a striking cross-bracing system that lends a touch of complexity to its metal and glass façade. The 82-story, 320-meter tower will comprise 140 luxury condominiums, 28 serviced apartments, and a 3,600 square-meter gallery space expansion for the Museum of Modern Art Journal Squared, Jersey City. © Handel Architects / 160 Folsom Street, San Francisco. © Studio Gang below. Completion and initial occupancy are HWKN expected to take place in 2018. Elsewhere in Manhattan, revised plans have Pacific Park has also made headlines with news been uncovered for 125 Greenwich Street, a that construction on the world’s first modular superslim tower that may boast an impressive high-rise, B2, has been halted due to a dispute height of 413 meters upon completion. between the builder, Skanska USA, and Forest Original designs for the development called City Ratner. Skanska claims that the modular for a 293-meter tower designed by Rafael techniques set out by Forest City were flawed, Viñoly. While Viñoly has been retained as the while the developer claims that the entire architect, new designs reveal a much taller construction process was mismanaged by the finished product, one that will top out 3.5 builder. Regardless of who is to blame, the meters shy of ’s development world is eagerly following the rooftop. At 77 stories, the tower will feature debate, as it could provide major insights into unusually high ceilings and will offer a total of the viability of modular construction techniques 10 penthouses, the highest of which will be a for high-rise buildings. duplex that will contend for the title of Manhattan’s most expensive residence. Alternatively, things are moving smoothly across the river in Jersey City, as crews continue Across the East River, the Atlantic Yards construction of Journal Squared, a massive mega-project has been rebranded as Pacific three-tower high-rise complex that will include Park. The announcement comes after the tallest residential building in New Jersey. The developer Forest City Ratner Companies lower floors of the complex will accommodate struck a partnership with China’s second- smaller units and commercial spaces that largest property developer, Greenland Group. respect the development’s low-rise The developers have selected COOKFOX to surroundings, while the upper floors feature design two new towers at the site, 550 larger, higher-end residences. The first phase is and 535 Carlton Avenue. expected to complete in 2016, while the second The high-rise at 535 Carlton Avenue will be phase will complete in 2021. completely devoted to affordable housing, providing much-needed economic relief in On the US West Coast, planning permissions are one of the ’ most expensive moving along in San Francisco for 160 Folsom real-estate markets. Street, a 40-story residential tower designed by Studio Gang, offering a unique interpretation of 53W53, New York. © Ateliers Jean Nouvel

6 | Global News CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Park Grove, Miami. © OMA Torre BBVA Bancomer, Mexico City. © Lego Rogers Victoria One, Melbourne. © Elenberg Fraser the city’s iconic bay windows. At a modest interaction and promoting a sense of designs for Victoria One, a tower that would height of 122 meters, the tower features stacks community. at every ninth floor become the city’s tallest residential skyscraper. of windows and balconies that twist along its create valuable outdoor spaces that take The 241-meter tower is to be clad in refulgent height, creating an elaborately textured façade advantage of the tower’s 360-degree views. green glass and a series of layered architectural that catches the eye. Details of the project are The design of each office floor is varied, as fins that reduce downdrafts at the street level, still evolving and the desired skin material is still each responds to the service core that runs while providing solar shading for residences. At being researched, but architect Jeanne Gang diagonally along each ascending floor plate. a distance, the orientation of the fins lends a says she is certain that it will be a material that The resulting layout provides a variety of fluid aesthetic to the building’s façade, is light in color in order to reflect the vibrancy unique, efficient office spaces. complimenting the sleek, high-end character of its locale. of its interiors.

Aspirations remain similarly high in Miami, Asia and Oceania The luxury trend is not exclusive to Melbourne, where OMA has revealed designs for a as a stately trio of Zaha Hadid-designed towers three-tower luxury condominium complex, Australia shows no signs of slowing its upward has been presented for the Brisbane suburb of Park Grove. Sited on a six-acre plot, the towers trajectory – a trend made apparent by the Toowong. The Toowong Development will are cylindrically shaped, with gently undulating hefty development pipeline of Melbourne. In comprise three towers rising from the site of floor plates revealing a curved façade. Large early September, Elenberg Fraser revealed its the abandoned studio complex of the concrete columns separate each unit’s balcony, producing a greater sense of verticality for the towers. Among the most notable features of the project are the bases, which will accommodate commercial tenants and incorporate accessible rooftop gardens.

Gardens at height are a central theme in Mexico City, as the Torre BBVA Bancomer inches nearer to completion. Standing as a symbol of Mexico City’s global presence, the 235-meter office tower is poised to become the tallest building in Mexico. The design of the building places a high priority on social Toowong Development, Toowong, Brisbane. © Zaha Hadid Architects

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Global News | 7 Case Study: One Central Park, Sydney Going for Green, Heading for the Light One Central Park was developed as a response to growing demand for residential accommodation in downtown Sydney. Its developers and designers used the opportunity to make a powerful and visible green statement with a tall building that is environmentally responsive on multiple levels. The project challenges the Modernist resistance to surface accretion, both with a planted veil that cleans the air, provides shade, and speaks of a Jean Nouvel Bertram Beissel naturally-integrated urban vitality, and a technologically-assertive apparatus that guides the sun’s rays where they are most needed. Authors Jean Nouvel, Principal Bertram Beissel, Partner Global Overview influx of funds and knowledge has given Ateliers Jean Nouvel Australia one of the world’s top 10 GDPs per 10 cité d’Angoulême 75011 Paris, France The United Nations predicts that the world’s capita. Four Australian have recently risen t: +33 1 4923 8383 population will increase by 2 billion between into the top 10 of The Economist’s Global f: +33 1 4314 8110 e: [email protected]; [email protected] today and 2050, and the number of people Liveability Ranking of 2014. www.jeannouvel.com living in cities will rise from 50 to 75%. Inevitably, rural populations will be shrinking, One Central Park (OCP) near Central Station in Jean Nouvel and almost every urban center in the world Sydney is one development that demonstrates Jean Nouvel obtained his degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1972. will be growing. Twenty-first-century Australia how Australia’s urban growth is materializing Soon afterwards, he became a founding member is not exempt from this trend: Sydney could (see Figure 1). Until recently, rapid new of the “Mars 1976” Movement and was a founder of French Architecture Union. His works have gained grow from 4.6 million inhabitants today to 7 construction and short housing supply fueled a world-wide recognition. In 2000, Nouvel received the million by 2056, Melbourne from 4.1 to 6.8 conservative culture of cheap and fast projects Lion d’Or of the Venice Biennale. In 2001, he received the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British million, Brisbane from 2 to 4 million and Perth that favored minimal risk over design quality. Architects (RIBA), the Premium Imperial of Japan’s from 1.7 to 3.4 million. In this demographic But this tradition is being challenged by three Fine Arts Association and the Borromini Prize for the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre in Lucerne. scenario, all these cities will have to house one factors: political pressure to invest in Sydney’s Nouvel was the recipient of the prestigious Pritzker million or more new people within the next future, international developers willing to invest Prize in 2008. 20 years, or 4,000 per month. Australia’s in higher quality architecture, and buyers’

Bertram Beissel natural resources, arable land area and growing demand for signature design. OCP Beissel joined Ateliers Jean Nouvel in 1998 and economic outlook make such a population benefits from all three of these drivers. It is became a partner in 2002. He has directed a variety of European and international projects, including increase very possible. The Australian classified as a “State Significant Development” 53 West 53rd Street in Manhattan and the Guthrie government welcomes foreign real estate under the direct approval authority of the Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Both of these projects are featured in the selected works of the investments to cope with the existing Minister of Planning, and as such has become a Pritzker Prize, which was awarded to Jean Nouvel shortage of 300,000 homes nationwide. public quality benchmark. in 2008. Beissel recently completed the design and construction of One Central Park Towers in Sydney, Simultaneously, it encourages the Australia. This project achieved the highest Green immigration of wealthy retirees, students, and As an indication of new buyers’ confidence in Star rating and takes a unique approach to urban solar power and organic shading. Currently, Beissel highly skilled workers from abroad. The steady innovative design, 90% of OCP’s initial is AJN’s US Project Director and is overseeing the construction of the 53W53 residential tower until its planned completion in 2018.

Figure 1. One Central Park near Central Station in Sydney. © Atelier Jean Nouvel / PTW Architects

12 | One Central Park, Sydney CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Figure 2. One Central Park, Sydney – overall view of tower from northwest. apartments sold off-plan within a three- month record time, and the project was completed on schedule and on budget at AU$ 5,400 (US$4,743) per square meter. OCP reduces its cooling energy load with a

“five-kilometer-long system of linear slab-edge Planning and Design planters that function like permanent shading One Central Park (see Figure 2) is the first shelves and reduce thermal impact in the stage of the AU$2 billion (US$1.76 billion) Carlton & United Brewery site redevelopment apartments by about 20%. Additional shading near Central Station in Sydney. The master plan was created with the understanding that from the plant foliage itself can further diminish Sydney’s population will keep growing and heat gains by an additional 20%… that residential towers near inner city traffic ” CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV One Central Park, Sydney | 13 History, Theory & Criticism The Competition for the Tallest Skyscraper: Implications for Global Ethics and Economics An iconic skyscraper has aesthetic significance that may have meaning for other aspects of human experience – serving, for example, as an expression of cultural and ethical values and a symbol of economic power. This study examines the competition for the world’s tallest skyscraper as a symbolic, but also substantively significant, window through which to understand the relationship between economics, ethics, aesthetics, and human well-being. Christopher Michaelson The study consists of an empirical component, analyzing skyscraper economics; and a philosophical inquiry on the social and ethical implications Authors of the empirical data. The empirical component connects architectural data Christopher Michaelson, Associate Professor Opus College of Business on the world’s tallest to indicators of economic and ethical University of St. Thomas 1000 LaSalle Avenue performance. The philosophical component explores the relationship Terrence Murphy Hall 443 Minneapolis MN 55403 between economic power and aesthetic and ethical values, raising normative United States concerns about the race to growth, without succumbing to the cultural t: +1 651 962 4349 e: [email protected] paternalism that often pervades contemporary Western commentary on www.stthomas.edu Eastern economic practices.

Christopher Michaelson The Skyscraper as a Window on the World center of tallest skyscraper gravity, which from With a PhD in Philosophy, Christopher Michaelson helped launch a business ethics consulting practice 1998 had visited in the form of Kuala with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 1998 before If the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah is completed Lumpur’s twin Towers and then taking a lectureship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Now associate professor according to plan, it will become the world’s in 2004. -upmanship has of Ethics and Business Law at the University of St. tallest building in a few years time by a long not been this intense since it played out on a Thomas, Opus College of Business, he has also been on the Business and Society faculty of New York margin. At more than a kilometer high, it much smaller field in Manhattan during the University’s Stern School of Business since 2005 and would eclipse the , less than a Great Depression. In the aftermath of the maintains an advisory role with PwC. Michaelson’s Figureclients have 1: included In one-fourth MNCs, NGOs, and the government time (1995-2020),decade after the the location landmark of the became world’s the Great Recession, the contest to build the tallestinstitutions. skyscraper His research integrates will move management about five world’stimes firstthe distancemegatall (600+ it moved meters) building.in the world’s tallest skyscraper will continue as long and the arts to explore global ethics and meaningful work. century before (1875-1975)Together, the buildings represent a shift in the as new entrants are intent on announcing Skyscraper data from CTBUH 2008, 2011; Distance data from timeanddate.com Distance Calculator their fitness for a manufactured competition 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 for global supremacy. 12,000 12,000 Kingdom Tower, Increasingly, skyscraper construction is est. 2019, Jeddah

Distance from previous Distance (km) tallest from occurring in developing markets, and on one Burj Khalifa, 2010, Dubai hand, the shifting center of skyscraper gravity 9,000 9,000 appears to represent increasing economic Home Insurance Bldg, 1885, Chicago development. On the other hand, these same , skyscraping ambitions invite ethical criticism 1998, 6,000 6,000 about misplaced priorities, emphasizing World Building, 1890, NYC primitive spiritual aspirations to the heavens Park Row Building, Bank of Manhattan Bldg, 1899, NYC 1930, NYC and rudimentary biological aspirations to size at the potential expense of well-being. The Taipei 101, Sears Tower, 1974, 3,000 3,000 2004, Taipei Chicago Burj Khalifa became a financial liability for an Distance from previous tallestfrom (km) previous Distance Woolworth Building, emirate needing outside assistance to 1913, NYC , 1930, NYC weather a global recession. The Kingdom Manhattan Life Singer Building, , One World Trade Center, Building, 1894, NYC 1908, NYC 0 1931, NYC 1972, NYC 0 Tower is rising in a city woefully lacking in 1875 1895 1915 1935 1955 1975 basic infrastructure, where in 2009 floods led 1995-2020 1875-1975 to death and destruction, merely because the city did not have a basic drainage system Figure 1. In the 25 years from 1995–2020, the location of the world’s tallest skyscraper will move about five times the distance it moved in the entire century before (1875–1975). Source: Skyscraper data from the CTBUH Skyscraper (Al-Ahmed 2009). Center; distance data from Distance Calculator, www.timeanddate.com

20 | CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV The recent history of the skyscraper is a product and symbol of industrial advancement, and thus provides a window As a species of the technological sublime, the on the world through which to examine some of the most important ethical challenges “skyscraper evokes ‘awe and wonder, often arising from economic growth in developing markets. These challenges include such tinged with an element of terror’ whether tangible issues as corruption, for which standing near the top looking down, at the base opportunities and incentives multiply as markets grow in size and complexity; and the looking up, or even from afar, contemplating the natural environment, the stewardship over which is complicated by externalities and magnitude of the enterprise. competing priorities. They also include intangible philosophical questions with ” practical consequences, including how to wonder, often tinged with an element of term “supertall” to refer to buildings over 300 preserve cultural values while engaging in a terror” (Nye 1994: xvi) whether standing near meters in height, and now uses “megatall” for global marketplace, and how to balance the top looking down, at the base looking up, buildings at least twice that height. Among future investment with present needs. Much or even from afar, contemplating the completed skyscrapers, 7 of the tallest 10 in the as the skyscraper competition transposes the magnitude of the enterprise. world in 2014, and 72 of the tallest 100, were inherited value of “growth for growth’s sake” completed in 2000 or later. Although only two into the economic present, these challenges The biological aspiration to achieve, and the completed megatalls existed in 2014, five more have been confronted over and over respectful fear of size, have roots in animal were in progress (CTBUH Skyscraper Center). throughout history and proliferated with psychology, as demonstrated by the alpha Twice as many supertalls were completed in industrialization. Can the skyscraper help male chimpanzee who deploys tree branches 2010 than in 2000, and nearly four times as societies learn from the mistakes of the past, to enhance his stature when displaying (De many will be completed in 2020 as in 2010, and or are we doomed to repeat them? Waal 1998, Goodall 1971). In ancient remnants the average height of the top 20 skyscrapers in of human civilization, height elicits awe, 2020 will be almost megatall, at 598 meters deference, and spiritualism, from the Great (CTBUH 2011). The Skyscraper as Symbol of Economic Pyramids at Giza, to the location of the Ambition and Ethical Values Parthenon on the Acropolis, to the tiered form The shift in the geographical center of the of Ming Dynasty (Dupré 2008). In skyscraper’s gravity is equally dramatic. As Symbolically, a skyscraper communicates scripture, the Tower of Babel represents shown in Figure 1, in recent history, in roughly meaningfully through its size, design, and reaching for the seat of God. But another one-fifth the time, the location of the world’s technology to biological, aesthetic, and reason the skyscraper stands as a particular tallest skyscraper will move approximately five ethical values of human beings (De Botton and compelling symbol of contemporary times the distance that it did in the span of the 2006, Goodman 1985, Kingwell 2008, Petit power and values is that its technological so-called “American Century.” The changing 2002). Like literature and other arts possibility dates back only as far as the dawn geography of the skyscraper is a fairly sudden (Michaelson 2012), a skyscraper may reflect of modern industrialization. shift from West to East. From the 1930s to the cultural values at the same time that it 1970s, more than 90% of skyscrapers were in influences them. Unlike other arts, however, a Although much of the positioning for North America, dipping slightly to about 80% skyscraper is necessarily and always will be a ultimate supremacy occurred early in the in the 1980s and . By the 2000s, more major public-private venture, requiring skyscraper’s life – 10 of the 16 world’s tallest than half were outside North America – mostly aesthetic disinterestedness and economic buildings were completed in the first 50 years Asia – and by the 2010s, more than 75% were interest, architectural imagination and (CTBUH 2008) – the skyward competition has outside North America, about equally practical engineering, and financial capital accelerated dramatically in the past two distributed between Asia and the Middle East and resource coordination. In today’s world, as decades. This changing landscape of (CTBUH 2011). In this global society in which a product of political, economic, social, skyscraper construction is part of an citizenship might transcend traditional political technological, and environmental negotiation, urbanizing trend that renders the city an borders (Frey 2003), skyscraper symbolism is the skyscraper is arguably a market’s most important locus of economic and, potentially, distinctly provincial, a source of jurisdictional audaciously tangible evidence of democratic, life (King 2004). It is also reflected pride and power. achievement and intangible representation of in skyscraper vocabulary: the term “skyscraper” ambition. As a species of the technological was applied to the first steel-framed buildings, sublime, the skyscraper evokes “awe and but more recently, the CTBUH coined the

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV | 21 Economics/Financial The Emergence of Asian Supertalls Within Asia, a high density of tall buildings is viewed as being synonymous with being a successful financial hub. It is widely believed that constructing supertall office buildings can enhance the competiveness of a city’s business environment. Authorities in a number of markets have pursued this strategy as a means to establish their city as a financial center or to reposition their econo- mies. This “build and they will come” approach has been adopted in several Jonathan Hsu Cynthia Chan emerging financial markets across the region, with limited degrees of success.

Authors Introduction resulted in higher rents, which predominantly Jonathan Hsu, Director Cynthia Chan, Senior Analyst financial sector tenants were able to afford. This CBRE Asia-Pacific Headquarters The creation of financial centers has meant that supporting industries had to move 12/F, Three Exchange Square 8 Connaught Place Central, Hong Kong traditionally underpinned the development of out and locate themselves some distance from t: +852 2820 2957 tall buildings in major cities worldwide. Prior to the clients they served. Financial sector f: +852 2810 0830 e: [email protected]; the advent of computers and the adoption of occupiers therefore came to dominate CBDs, [email protected] the Internet, there was a strong need for and financial hubs began to emerge. http://www.cbre.com.hk accounting, auditing, consultancy, and law firms to be in close proximity to each other in The pattern of vertical development is best Jonathan Hsu Hsu joined CBRE in June 2013 as director of the order to service key clients, such as large illustrated by the Manhattan borough of New Asia-Pacific research team, leading the fundamental financial institutions and major corporations in York City, which has been the leading global analysis for the office, retail, and industrial subsectors from a regional perspective. He is responsible for other industries. As the financial sector financial center since the 1920s. Over the past forming and delivering the regional occupiers’ strategy expanded, the size of supporting industries century, the skyline has evolved with the to internal business lines and to CBRE’s key clients in the region. Prior to CBRE, Hsu covered listed real-estate increased in proportion. completion of numerous tall office buildings securities in Asia as an equity research analyst. As vice housing large financial institutions and major president at Barclays, Hsu covered listed developers and landlords in Hong Kong and China. Prior to this, This led to rapid growth in demand for office corporations. New York City continues to have he served as associate director of the UBS Global Real space and stimulated the expansion of Central the highest number of tall office buildings in Estate Strategy team. Business Districts (CBDs), vertically and/or the world, followed by Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong

Cynthia Chan horizontally. The adoption of the safety elevator Kong, and Chicago (see Figure 1). With the Chan joined CBRE in mid-2010 as senior analyst of and advent of steel-frame construction exception of Shanghai, all of these cities are the Asia-Pacific research team. She has been working closely with local research members to conduct facilitated the vertical development of office traditional financial centers. fundamental analysis for the retail and industrial space to accommodate growing demand. sectors from a regional perspective before a recent focus on the office sector. She is also assisting in the Examples of vertical expansion include New New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and delivery of regional occupiers’ strategy to CBRE’s York, which is home to the largest number of Tokyo all rank highly on the Global Financial key clients in the region. Before joining CBRE, Chan 1 worked as an equity research analyst to cover listed tall office buildings in the world. Centres Index (GFCI), a ranking of the conglomerates in Hong Kong. Prior to this, she started competitiveness of global financial centers. her career as an analyst in real estate direct investment. Increasing demand for CBD space, combined Three out of the top six cities are in Asia, and all with the gradual rise in construction costs, these cities have a large number of tall office buildings. The high profile of these cities has created the perception that mature global financial centers are comprised of tall building clusters. In Asia, a high density of tall buildings is viewed as being synonymous with being a 152 successful financial hub. Numerous city leaders are seeking to mimic the success of the likes of New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. They do

96 1 The Global Financial Centres Index is a ranking of the 75 69 competiveness of 83 financial centers based on over 62 25,000 financial center assessments from an online ques- tionnaire, together with a total of 103 instrumental factors from organizations such as the World Bank, Economist Intelligence Unit, and the United Nations. Ratings in the Figure 1. Cities with the largest number of tall office buildings (150+ m). Source: CBRE Research/CTBUH, June 2014. GFCI 15 range from 423 (Athens) to 786 (New York).

28 | Economics/Financial CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV so by adopting a “build and they will come” The Emergence of Asia as Hub dramatically in the early 2000s, with strategy of constructing tall office buildings For Tall Office Buildings completions growing at an average of 40 new with high specifications to attract financial tall office buildings per year. In comparison, the sector companies as a means to establish The development of tall office buildings in United States currently sees the completion of their city as a regional financial center (see Asia began relatively recently, at the end of an average of six new tall office buildings per Figure 2). the 20th century. Construction accelerated year. As of June 2014, Asia was home to 55% of the total number of tall office buildings globally 160 (see Figure 3). On a country level, China

140 accounts for around one-third of existing tall office buildings worldwide. 120 In recent years, governments in a number of 100 countries in Asia have supported the construc-

80 tion of supertall office buildings, defined as a building with a height of 300 meters or greater 60 (see Figure 4). Supertall office buildings are viewed by authorities as a means to enhance 40 the competiveness of their business environ- ment so their city can establish itself as a Existing number of tall office buildings 150 m+ Existing number of tall office 20 financial center. Shanghai World Finance Center 0 (SWFC) and Guangzhou IFC were constructed 550 600 650 700 750 800 in accordance with this strategy. Global Financial Centre Index

Figure 2. Global financial centers and their tall office-building numbers. Source: CBRE Research / CTBUH / Z/Yen Group, June 2014 1,800 Steps to success: Leverage 1,600 ASIA THE AMERICAS MIDDLE EAST strong relationships EUROPE OCEANIA 1,400 Supertall office buildings in Asia tend to be 1,200 developed with a high degree of government involvement. Guangzhou IFC was primarily 1,000 developed by Yue Xiu Properties, a company 800 established by the Guangzhou government to pursue economic and trade development 600 opportunities in Hong Kong. Shenzhen KK 400 100 was constructed by Kingkey Real Estate Development Company Limited, whose 200 founder is a high-profile member of various 0 civil service organizations, such as the Chinese 1909 1930 1953 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 People’s Political Consultative Conference and Figure 3. History of the construction of tall buildings. Source: CBRE Research / CTBUH, June 2014 the Guangdong Political Consultative Conference.

That said, the challenges and complexity involved in constructing a supertall office 6 building often necessitate the participation of 6 a more experienced partner from overseas. 5 5 For example, Shanghai World Financial Center 5 5 was developed by Japan-based Mori Building 4 4 Company and constructed by the Shanghai 34 4 State Construction Group, which is currently developing the Shanghai Tower, a new Figure 4. Cities with the largest number of supertall office buildings (300+ meters). supertall office building in the same city. Source: CBRE Research / CTBUH, June 2014

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Economics/Financial | 29 MEP Achieving a Six-Star Rated Tall Building In Sydney’s Central Business District The ANZ Tower in central Sydney not only represents the commercial office sector’s recovery from the 2008 financial crisis; it is also a strong example of a high-performance tall building. This was the culmination of an ongoing partnership from the early design development stage onwards. An enlightened owner wanted to differentiate the building through green efficiency, and a design team committed to extensive modeling and testing Lester Partridge of multiple, interrelated building services and architectural elements, in the interest of reducing overall carbon impact. Authors Lester Partridge, Industry Director Background tower takes advantage of the site’s particular AECOM Building Engineering Level 21, 420 George Street planning constraints to develop its distinctive Sydney NSW 2000 Rising 212.6 meters above the street, the ANZ form, which also ensures that nearby Hyde Australia t: +61 2 8934 0635 Tower at 161 Castlereagh Street, part of the Park is protected from shadows at key times f: +61 2 8934 0001 precinct known as Liberty Place, was one of of the day. e: [email protected] www.aecom.com the first buildings to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis in the central business Originally conceived prior to the 2008 crisis, Lester Partridge district (CBD) of Sydney. The development the site was acquired by as part Partridge is an Industry Director of AECOM Building reinvigorates a previously run-down site with owner, developer, and builder in April 2010; Engineering and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He has a design that emphasizes the public domain the design resolution commenced with over 25 years of involvement in all facets of building and a richness of activity. anchor tenants ANZ Bank and the Freehills services consultancy. With project experience in Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong law firm. Kong, China, New Zealand, and the United States, Located in the retail district between the he provides expertise in low energy building and precinct design. Partridge is a qualified mechanical business and legal precincts, the site provides engineer, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of competitive leasing rates and is easily Design Evolution Engineers, and is involved with the CTBUH in the capacity of reviewer for the International Research accessible to public transport. Once inside, Seed Funding, and CTBUH Expert Peer Review above the low-level floors, the northeasterly The environmental targets of the original Committee (2012–2014). views of Sydney’s magnificent harbor become design were set to achieve a five-star Green apparent. The building form responds well to Star Design & As Built development rating, this view, its shape focused on the eastern along with a five-star National Australian Built harbor with a prominent northeast façade Environment Rating System (NABERS) energy designed to maximize daylight and views. The target.

The developer secured a major bank and a legal firm to occupy up to 75% of the building’s Property Council of Australia office premium-grade space prior to financial close in April 2010.

The team charged with designing the building included architect Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (FJMT); building services design including mechanical, electrical, communications, security, specialist lighting, sustainability, and building façade services by AECOM; and Aurecon on structural engineering.

Figure 1. Liberty Place Figure 2. Typical floor plate – demonstrating access to views. © FJMT development stacking diagram

34 | MEP CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Towards the end of the design development plate, with the hypotenuse directed towards stage, the developer recognized an the harbor (see Figure 2). The remaining opportunity to differentiate this building from façades are separately articulated with rational many of its competitors by raising the rectilinear forms and align to the city’s environmental standard to a six-star Green Star orthogonal grid (see Figure 3). The elevator World Leadership rating. The building services shaft, amenities, and services risers are located engineer provided Green Star and energy on the southern façade. performance consultancy and designed the building services to meet target during the A triangular structural element is located early design stage. The building services centrally on the floor and encloses the internal engineer was then charged with continual fire stairs and additional services riser space. refinement of the energy model, with the core also accommodates the freight inputs generated by the development team, . The building has been designed with along with the services and façade design and a floor-to-floor height of just 3,700 millimeters construction subcontractors during the for typical levels and 4,675 millimeters on the construction documentation stage. lower-level trading floors. The structural slab on Figure 3. Liberty Place development, Sydney. each floor is designed to accommodate a © Grocon Group 200-square-meter inter-floor void, should The planning of the foyer resolves a number Architecture tenants require the construction of a of conflicting requirements, including communicating stair. negotiating level changes between the two The final arrangement of the building provides streets without creating onerous access a 44-story, premium-grade office tower A key component of the development involved conditions, and differing tenant requirements containing 55,963 square meters of office and the enhancement of the public domain and for security control. 2,800 square meters of retail space. On the provision of a new “pedestrian street,” which northeastern part of Levels 43 and 44, there is a provides a mid-block city link to connect to the At the base of the tower is a retail complex of single residential luxury apartment which is wider city environs. sunlit, public open spaces, with the new plaza owned by the site’s previous owner; the and pedestrian lane connecting Castlereagh remaining floor area on these levels is plant The site is an amalgamation of five sites, with Street and Pitt Street. These landscaped room. frontages to both Castlereagh and Pitt streets. spaces, ringed with café, restaurant, and bar The Castlereagh Street frontage included opportunities, create an extension of the city The building is divided into four groups, Legion House and the adjacent Angus & Son into the heart of the development. consisting of low-rise (Levels 5–14), mid-rise Building, dating from 1902. Legion House was (16–25), high-rise (26–33), and sky-rise (34–42) retained and refurbished, while the Angus & The floor plates are designed to maximize floors (see Figure 1). Each group is served by Son Building was demolished to allow for the daylight, and accordingly the majority of the dedicated elevators. Major air-handling plant through-site link. occupied space is no more than 12.5 meters rooms are located on the podium levels (1–3), from a glazed façade. Levels 14–15, and Levels 43–45.

The lower levels of the building comprise:

ƒƒ Basements 1: Loading area, service rooms, As the Sydney electricity supply is primarily and short-term parking “generated from black-coal-powered thermal ƒƒ Basements 2, 3, and 4: Long-term car parking, tenant facilities, and service rooms power stations, the carbon content of the mains ƒƒ Pitt Street Level: Retail, foyer lobby, and vehicular access grid is high. The strategy to reduce carbon ƒƒ Castlereagh Street Level: Retail and foyer lobby emissions substantially for this building was to

The floor plates are arranged to take advantage minimize the consumption of mains electricity of the spectacular views across eastern Sydney and, where possible, replace it with gas-fired harbor towards the open ocean. The architect achieved this by developing a triangular floor equipment.” CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV MEP | 35 Social Issues Designing High-Rise Housing: The Singapore Experience There is a land shortage in Singapore, compelling the search for different models of high-rise housing. Singapore’s experience breaks with the dual stereotypes that high-rise construction is expensive, and that an apartment in a skyscraper is a privilege of the rich. Reflecting the strategy of providing the average consumer with affordable and comfortable housing, there is a rapid growth of design and construction of high-rise residential complexes in Elena Generalova Viktor Generalov Singapore. This process is based on the principles of sustainable urban development, minimizing environmental impact, and maximizing energy Authors efficiency. A clear standard of comfort for public housing has been developed, Elena Generalova, Associated Professor Viktor Generalov, Professor including a set of required improvements of the site, in the structure of Department of Architecture of Housing and Public Buildings residential towers and in apartment layout. Samara State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Kievskaya Street, 15, App. 55 According to many researchers, the most become the owner of an HDB apartment, the Samara 443013, Russia t: +7 927 695 0233; +7 905 0189298 dynamic and vibrant housing markets are applicant must meet certain requirements e: [email protected]; [email protected] those where public and private sectors coexist concerning nationality, age, and marital status. harmoniously. Singapore has managed to Also, there are limits on the average gross Elena Generalova develop conditions that support a high monthly household income that can be Elena Generalova, PhD, is a member of the Union of Architects of Russia and an associate professor in the standard of living by way of a set of required earned by residents of a given type of department of Architecture of Housing and Public elements and system quality criteria for apartment. Buildings at Samara State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Her scientific interests focus on different consumer strata embedded in researching modern high-rise residential complexes. high-rise residential complexes, innovative Generalova supervises post-graduate research students in Architecture. She is the author of more technologies and “green standards,” based on Development of Multiple Financing than 50 scientific works, including monographs and the principles of energy efficiency and And Occupancy Models educational editions. She is also a practicing architect with more than 60 completed projects. environmental friendliness which have become available for mass consumers. Public housing in Singapore was originally Viktor Generalov intended to be for-rent only, but the policy Viktor Generalov, PhD, is a professor at, and head of the Department of, Architecture of Housing It should be noted that Singapore has was quickly adjusted to extend applicants the and Public Buildings at Samara State University of reached such a high standard of living in a opportunity to buy apartments. The govern- Architecture and Civil Engineering, a member of the Union of Architects of Russia, and advisor to the very short period of time, based on its unique ment attached great importance to allowing Russian Academy of Architectural Sciences (RAASN). climatic, political, regulatory, and economic the popular majority to become owners. His scientific interests focus on the modern problems of specific types of high-rises. Within this framework, conditions. The history of public housing in Those lacking sufficient income to purchase he supervises post-graduate research students in Singapore began in 1960, when the Housing homes, but who were eligible for HDB architecture. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, including monographs and and Development Board (HDB) was formed, housing, could receive preferential mortgag- educational editions. He is also a practicing architect the main purpose of which was to provide es, housing subsidies, and savings from the and has more than 80 completed projects in Russia and Kazakhstan. affordable housing in a high-quality Central Provident Fund (CPF). The CPF is a environment for the masses. In order to state fund in Singapore to which every working citizen and their employer pays monthly. The public pension, medical services, and home loans are fully financed by these contributions. In general, the system works More than 80% of Singaporeans live in quite efficiently, as more than 80% of “public housing, and 95 % of public-housing Singaporeans live in public housing, and 95% of public-housing residents are owners. As a residents are owners. The wealthy have also result of the housing program, the country has provided every citizen with comfortable overwhelmingly chosen high-rise condominium housing in a very short time. The wealthy have ownership through their own means. also overwhelmingly chosen high-rise

40 | Social Issues ” CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV condominium ownership through their own means.

The range of available housing types is improving for HDB owners and renters. For example, Executive Condominiums have been introduced in order to accommodate the needs of young professionals who can afford more than a HDB flat, but for whom private commercial housing remains out of reach. Such flats are comparable to market- rate condominiums in terms of design and amenities. Figure 1. Map of HDB residential areas in Singapore.

The Design, Build, and Sell Scheme (DBSS) was launched in 2005, involving private develop- ers in a substantial way. Under DBSS, developers are responsible for the entire design and construction process (including purchase of land, design development, construction, and sales). Apartments built under this scheme are intended for public housing. They are developed by private companies, which are free to design and Figure 2. People’s Park Complex, Singapore Figure 3. Golden Mile Complex, Singapore implement their projects as they see fit, so long as they do not jeopardize the objectives, Each HDB town is designed to be self-sustain- requirements of a barrier-free environment. principles, and basic features of public ing. There is no need to venture out of town housing. This means that, while providing to meet the most common needs of In the initial years following the establishment sufficient flexibility in design, finishes, and residents. Employment can be found in and development of the concept of HDB sizes, tight control is nevertheless exerted over industrial estates located within several towns, housing, in addition to housing groups and the developments’ integration into the urban and each has education and health care estates development, the idea of building environment, so as to support favorable social facilities, sports complexes, recreation zones, multifamily residential complexes in the and aesthetic interaction with the surround- multistory car parks, and other common high-density areas of Singapore was also ing existing HDB buildings. To date, 13 DBSS facilities. All HDB residential areas are encouraged. Some examples of the resulting projects have been constructed in different connected to a well-developed public experiments with integrating various parts of Singapore on 10 sites. Notable transport infrastructure, including under- functions in “megastructures,” include: People’s projects include City View @ Boon Keng, Park ground, buses, and Light Rail Transit (LRT). Park Complex, (1973, 31 floors, 103 meters) Central @ Ang Mo Kio, Natura Loft @ Bishan, (see Figure 2) and the Golden Mile Complex, and The Peak @ Toa Payoh. Every residential complex has well-equipped (1974, 16 floors, 89 meters) (see Figure 3). outdoor sports fields, embodying the state’s These were designed by Gan Eng Oon, commitment to the good health of its citizens. William Lim, and Tay Kheng Soon, who HDB Town Features Children’s playgrounds are an integral part of subsequently founded DP Architects. These the living environment and employ a great were among the first high-rise facilities in When the HDB took over in 1960, the agency variety of designs, advanced materials, Singapore, built as part of a reconstruction adopted the “new town” planning concept on variations in age-appropriate equipment, as program that cleared dilapidated buildings a large scale, building entire towns from well as areas equipped for parents. The and installed new public housing. Both scratch in locations all around Singapore. covered walkway is the calling card of complexes are multi-use buildings with There are now officially 24 “HDB Towns”, Singapore’s living environment, a piece of apartments, catering establishments, trade compact and contiguous areas with a infrastructure necessitated by the pressing enterprises, social amenities, offices, parking deliberate mix of residential, commercial, and need to protect citizens from the scorching lots, and other facilities. institutional uses (see Figure 1). sun, which can instantly turn into torrential rain. All residential areas have such walkways, In recent years, several high-rise complexes which are ramped to account for the have enhanced the status of public housing,

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Social Issues | 41 Tall Buildings in Numbers Dream Deferred: Unfi nished Tall Buildings

Without big dreams, there would be no tall buildings. Conceiving, fi nancing, designing, and constructing a skyscraper is no simple feat, even under the best of conditions. Many projects have had torturously slow gestation periods; many more have failed to start or were interrupted and cancelled. Naturally, we began to wonder how many tall buildings were started and not fi nished, and which held the records for longest construction time. Rumors of resurrections persist, and today’s long shot is tomorrow’s sure thing… 50 The total number of 150-meter or Note: taller buildings currently on hold In this study, a building is considered to be “Never Completed” when site works had begun, but (i.e., construction had started were completely halted, and no reports indicate that construction will continue. The site may go and stopped, but is planned to on to accommodate a new building, diff erent to the original design, that may or may not retain resume) around the world. the original construction.

1,000 m Status: Pilings Started

900 m World’s Tallest Never-Completed Buildings (data as of September 2014 ) These are the twenty tallest buildings that started works on site, but were never completed. 800 m The reasons that these designs were never fully realized are varied – some fell victim to

Status: fi nancial obstacles, others, political pressures and cultural shifts. Foundation Started 700 m

Status: Excavation Started

600 m Status: Foundation Completed Status: Pilings Completed Status: Framing Started Status: 500 m Excavation Started

Status: Status: Status: Pilings Completed Foundation Started 31 Floors Built 400 m

300 m

200 m

100 m

Nakheel Tower Doha Convention Burj Al Alam Palace of Soviets Lam Tara Tower 1 Fairwell International Metropolitan Life 1,000+ m / 3,280+ ft 700 m / 2,296 ft 612 m / 2,008 ft Center Tower 510 m / 1,673 ft 495 m / 1,624 ft 454 m / 1,490 ft 402 m / 1,319 ft Center North Annex Dubai Mumbai 551 m / 1,808 ft Dubai Moscow Dubai Dubai 397 m / 1,302 ft 390 m / 1,280 ft* Started: 2008 Started: 2010 Started: 2008 Doha Started: 2009 Started: 1937 Started: 2008 Started: 2009 Xiamen New York City Stopped: 2009 Stopped: 2011 Stopped: 2008 Started: 2007 Stopped: 2009 Stopped: 1941 Stopped: 2010 Stopped: 2009 Started: 1997 Started: 1931 Stopped: 2012 Stopped: 1997 Stopped: 1933

The Palace of Soviets in Moscow The Waterview Tower in Chicago The Metropolitan Life North was actually started in 1937, but started construction in 2006 and was Annex in New York was construction was halted during intended to be 319 meters tall with intended to have 100 stories, frame construction with the 89 fl oors. Construction was halted in but construction was halted coming of World War II. It would 2008 at the 26th fl oor. It was eventually in 1933 at the 31st fl oor. It have been topped with a statue redesigned and completed at the was fi nally completed at that of Joseph Stalin, making it the shorter height of 188 meters, and level in 1950. world’s tallest structure. renamed OneEleven.

4642 | Tall Building in Numbers CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV The Fifteen Longest Construction Periods From 1985 to Date The graph below displays the buildings (200m+) with the longest construction times. Some projects are still under construction (as indicated with an arrow).

1 , , 330 m, 28+ Years 2 , Kuala Lumpur, 382 m, 21 Years 3 Xiamen International Centre, Xiamen, 340 m, 20+ Years 4 AIC Empire Tower, Pasig, 200 m, 17+ Years 5 Tianjin International Trade Tower, Tianjin, 250 m, 16 Years 6 BSA Twin Towers, Mandaluyong, 221 m, 16 Years 7 Foshan International Plaza, Foshan, 208 m, 16 Years 8 United International Mansion, Chongqing, 287 m, 15 Years 9 Dalian International Trade Center, Dalian, 365 m, 13+ Years 10 Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, 492 m, 11 Years 1,000 m 11 66 Towers, Shanghai, 262 m, 11 Years 12 Hung Cheung Plaza, Shenzhen, 218 m, 11 Years Federation Towers - Vostok Tower, Moscow, 373 m, 10+ Years 900 m 13 14 Gate of the Orient, Suzhou, 302 m, 10+ Years JR Central Offi ce Tower, Nagoya, 245 m, 10 Years 800 m 15 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2014

700 m

600 m

500 m Status: Excavation Started

Status: Foundation Completed 400 m Status: Foundation Started Status: Status: Status: Foundation Started Status: Foundation Started Foundation Started Excavation Completed Status: Status: Status: 26 Floors Built Foundation Started Six Floors Built 300 m

200 m

100 m

Lam Tara Tower 2 Post and Telecom Sino Steel Faros de Panama Torre Planetarium I Waterview Tower City Hall and Duma Torre Planetarium II Bay-Adelaide Centre 384 m / 1,260 ft Building International Plaza T2 Torre Central 343 m / 1,125 ft 335 m / 1,099 ft 319 m / 1,047 ft 308 m / 1,012 ft 305 m / 1,001 ft 293 m / 961 ft Dubai 364 m / 1,193ft 358 m / 1,175 ft 346 m / 1,135 ft Panama City Mandaluyong Chicago Moscow Panama City Toronto Started: 2008 Xiamen Tianjin Panama City Started: 2008 Started: 1997 Started: 2006 Started: 2006 Started: 2008 Started: 1990 Stopped: 2010 Started: 1996 Started: 2009 Started: 2008 Stopped: 2008 Stopped: 1997 Stopped: 2008 Stopped: 2008 Stopped: 2008 Stopped: 1993 Stopped: 1997 Stopped: 2010 Stopped: 2008 * Height Estimated

Begun in 1990, but abandoned mid- If built as intended by 2014, Although never built, , construction due to fi nancial constraints, would have been which would have been the tallest the incomplete Centro Financiero the second-tallest building in building in the world, is remembered for Confi nanzas (aka Torre David) in Caracas the world. The project began its innovative design that included four was occupied by several hundred construction in 2008, but was continual vertical wind slots along the Venezuelan families in need of shelter. In put on hold in 2011 after 30 height of the tower. July 2014, residents were relocated. stories had already been built.

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Tall Building in Numbers | 4743 Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel From Block to Blob and Back Again United Network Studio (UN Studio) is a Dutch architecture firm founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos, which in the 2000s established offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong, partly to accommodate the firm’s increas- ing number of highly detailed and demanding tall building projects on the Asian continent. One of these projects, the Ardmore Residence in Singapore (see Figure 1), was a finalist in this year’s CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards Ben van Berkel program. Van Berkel paused to chat with CTBUH Editor Daniel Safarik on a recent whirlwind visit to the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Interviewee Ben van Berkel, Principal UNStudio We’ve seen a lot of creative projects in have completely accepted them. Then Stadhouderskade 113 Singapore in the last couple of years, and again, you don’t often hear “double-height 1073 AX Amsterdam, The Netherlands t: +31 20 570 2040 I’m wondering what kind of client windows,” and “concrete” in the same f: +31 20 570 2041 commissioned the Ardmore and what sentence. So you must have resolved that e: [email protected] www.unstudio.com made them interested in having such an with some pretty interesting engineering. intricate design? How were they convinced Yes, but with the incredible knowledge of this Ben van Berkel on the morphology of that building? client, I’ve noticed that collaboration is key. We Ben van Berkel is the Co-founder and Principal Architect of UNStudio in Amsterdam and Shanghai. The beauty of that client is their architectural also do everything digitally now – and we test UNStudio is a network of specialists in architecture, background; they have worked with many these things out very early in the design urban development, and infrastructure. Current projects include restructuring the station area of interesting architects like Philip Johnson and process. I do it more and more, where I come Arnhem, the Raffles City mixed-use development Paul Rudolph. Also, four of the brothers of this up with a proposal in the preliminary and in Hangzhou, over 30 stations for the Doha Metro Network in Qatar and the design and restructuring client live in a Paul Rudolph residential schematic design phases, and we test the of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa. Currently he is building called the Concourse, so they have slenderness of the building or the column- Professor of Conceptual Design at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt am Main, and was recently awarded the developed an incredible interest in free living areas, and see what we can do for Kenzo Tange Visiting Professor’s Chair at Harvard architecture. Also, I like Singapore. When I was the sustainable components of the building. University Graduate School of Design. Central to his teaching is the inclusive approach of architectural there I was fascinated with the city, its culture, For instance, this building is totally open on works integrating virtual and material organization and its regulations. They are quite tough in the side where you have little sunlight, and it’s and engineering constructions. terms of their organizational needs; for instance, landscaping needs to come into the first floor of the building. These requirements are tough, and can make it very challenging to design such an articulated building, but are I’ve never been so ultimately beneficial. “worried about Clearly, a client that had an appreciation of Paul Rudolph would also have an apprecia- individual buildings, tion of sculptured concrete, curvilinear organic shapes, and rough materials. but rather the Exactly, and then of course we came up with the organization of the building based on the collective skyline. [In optimum views we could get within the units. a good skyline] you So the living room area is a column-free space, with an incredibly nice span of more don’t mind that some than 12 meters. Each apartment also has double-height windows with a longitudinally buildings are quite interlocking double-height balcony set into close to each other, the concrete structure. This worked really well. There is still a stigma about tall concrete because they have an buildings in North America, and to some identity as a group. degree in Europe, whereas people in Asia Figure 1. Ardmore Residence, Singapore. ” © UN Studio / Iwan Baan 48 | Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV very much closed on the side where the sun moves around the building. So the building doesn’t get oversaturated with heat, but you also have thermal heat retained into the evening. Another thing that’s nice about the double-height balconies is that they collect wind into the evening. After 5:00 p.m., that really helps to cool down the building.

It was a wonderful project to work on and we Figure 2. Canaletto Apartments, London – neighborhood in the sky concept. © UN Studio only had 1.5 years to build it. The client took a lot of time to develop the project, around three years, but we had very little time to build it. complemented by increased services and young entrepreneurs to be able to buy these amenities. On the other hand, in Singapore, units, and the price structure of units in this So once you began construction there was they are better controlled. There are people building helps with that. There are affordable no going back? that take care of the public spaces, and units and also very expensive units, and they Correct. For that reason I could show you in tenants pay fees to ensure proper all share these types of amenities like detailed drawings that there are 16 modular maintenance. A sense of community is also restaurants, a cinema for families, a gym, a elements for the entire façade structure that generated when long-term tenants agree on pool, and a club. So we took a contemporary could be pulled and twisted in many different new ways to maintain their building. So it’s approach when looking at how we could fill ways. They were repeatedly used in different quite well organized. in the commercial component. areas of the building. In this way, we developed a highly efficient strategy for making quite a It sounds a little bit like the New York co-op What I’ve learned over the years, even when complex building. model. we do a department store, we say to the The advantage that many clients like when client, “Why don’t you think of a department The appearance of the building suggests they buy a high-rise unit is that they have, as a store that looks like a museum?”, because that it is hewn out of a solid piece of rock, community, a say into how they would like to objects in a museum are also fetish objects. but it seems that nothing could be further maintain the building. This concept can be When Andy Warhol talked about his from the truth. Did you use modifiable very beneficial for some projects. fascination with shopping, he talked about formwork, or did you pre-cast the concrete and raise it up? It is one that I am trying to instill in another We precasted it, but it was interesting, because project we are working on in London, called the Japanese contractor that was used had Canaletto (see Figures 2 and 3). It’s another techniques to move up the casting while they high-rise we are doing in the area of Islington, were moving up the building, and they did a which we characterized as a “neighborhood in lot of casting on the spot. They said that it was the sky.” While developing the project, we the quickest way for them to operate. So they thought a lot about context, where, in this moved upward every day, and the crane would case, there are a lot of startup companies. The lift the next piece into place while workers whole area has been an inspiration, as has the completed the previous section. client. They want to include all kinds of crazy amenities, like a restaurant on the ground You mentioned that you like Singapore and floor where people can meet and interact the constraints that it presented. It seems with their neighbors. like a very civilized place. I have seen a statistic that 80% of people in Singapore live How is it different facilitating a community in high-rise public housing, and probably environment in London rather than close to another 10% live in market-rate Singapore? high-rise housing. Why do you think they The thing that’s so nice about the market in have taken so well to high-rise living in London is that it is younger, if more Singapore? commercial. So when I proposed to them the You know, it’s the opposite of high-rise living in idea of a neighborhood in the sky, I presented Europe, where it used to be more common. it as a type of social enterprise that informs Today, to lure tenants, high-rises are how the building could be used. We want the Figure 3. Canaletto Apartments, London. © UN Studio

CTBUH Journal | 2014 Issue IV Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel | 49 About the Council

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based at the Illinois Institute of Technology in CTBUH Journal Chicago and with a China offi ce at Tongji International Journal on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat University in Shanghai, is an international not-for-profi t organization supported by architecture, engineering, planning, development, and construction professionals. Founded in 1969, the Council’s mission is to disseminate multi- Tall buildings: design, construction, and operation | 2014 Issue IV disciplinary information on tall buildings and sustainable urban environments, to maximize the international interaction of professionals involved Case Study: One Central Park, Sydney in creating the built environment, and to make the latest knowledge available to professionals in High-Rise Housing: The Singapore Experience a useful form. The Emergence of Asian Supertalls The CTBUH disseminates its fi ndings, and facilitates business exchange, through: the Achieving Six Stars in Sydney publication of books, monographs, proceedings, and reports; the organization of world congresses, Ethical Implications of international, regional, and specialty conferences The Skyscraper Race and workshops; the maintaining of an extensive website and tall building databases of built, under Tall Buildings in Numbers: construction, and proposed buildings; the Unfi nished Projects distribution of a monthly international tall building e-newsletter; the maintaining of an Talking Tall: Ben van Berkel international resource center; the bestowing of annual awards for design and construction excellence and individual lifetime achievement; the management of special task forces/working groups; the hosting of technical forums; and the publication of the CTBUH Journal, a professional journal containing refereed papers written by researchers, scholars, and practicing professionals.

The Council is the arbiter of the criteria upon which tall building height is measured, and thus the title of “The World’s Tallest Building” determined. CTBUH is the world’s leading body dedicated to the fi eld of tall buildings and urban habitat and the recognized international source for information in these fi elds.

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

S.R. Crown Hall Illinois Institute of Technology 3360 South State Street Chicago, IL 60616 Phone: +1 (312) 567 3487 Fax: +1 (312) 567 3820 Email: [email protected] http://www.ctbuh.org

ISSN: 1946 - 1186